


ships and a lighthouse

by ghemorrhage



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Character Study, Getting Together, Multi, Pokemon Battles, also headcanon laden, sorry these tags are abysmal but i'll fix them in the future lmao, the last two are only mentioned so far
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:22:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22782457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghemorrhage/pseuds/ghemorrhage
Summary: some way, somehow, your house becomes a rest stop of sorts for the past and present members of the Galar league.
Relationships: Rurina | Nessa/Sonia
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	ships and a lighthouse

At first, it was just Hop.

By all accounts, that makes the most sense, seeing as he literally lives thirty feet away from you and was basically the first friend you made in Galar. After being introduced to Leon and winning the Championship Cup, he began to visit a lot too- now that it was the off season and he isn’t the Champion anymore, being able to make the trip down to Postwick became a lot more doable for him. Somehow, though, more and more of the League members began to find their way to your home, lounging on your couch and drinking your tea.

But today, the doorbell rings and standing there in the late morning light is your favorite professor’s assistant and the former Champion himself. They’re both grinning shamelessly, like they know that this is the second day in a row they’ve come to drink you out of house and home and eat all of your biscuits, and you sigh.

“I’ll go put on the kettle.”

Hop spreads out some paperwork and books on your coffee table, after greeting your Pokémon and letting his own out into your back lawn. Leon lets Charizard out of its Poké Ball, and it roars happily at you in greeting. You scratch the scales on its head affectionately before it follows Leon into your kitchen to whip up some lunch, likely some sandwiches to keep the boys’ appetite in check for the duration of this lazy Sunday hangout. After sweeping a bit of dirt they tracked into the entryway out the front door again, you head into the kitchen yourself to help out. From the living room, you hear music start up; something pop-y, likely from Hop’s Rotom phone to help him study while he’s by himself.

“We tried to get the Professor to come with us, but Miss Sonia said she had an appointment with a publisher for a scientific journal to go to today,” Leon says as he mixes the cream cheese filling for cucumber sandwiches.

“Ah. She texted me something about that the other day. What was the name of the journal again? Journal of something…”

“Galar History!” Hop yells from the living room.

“ _That’s_ the bitch.”

Leon laughs, and his Charizard fishes some wrapped cucumbers from the fridge before handing them to you. It lumbers off, knowing that there isn’t much else it can help with given the nature of its arms. You and Hop’s Pokémon’s cries of joy filter in distantly through the kitchen window as it heads outside. As Leon finishes whipping the herbs he’s clipped from the pots sitting on your sill into the filling, his watch dings. A text, it seems, since he puts the bowl down to read the tiny notification on its screen.

“Oh,” he says, eyes widening a bit, “it looks like Sonia is going to be coming after all. And she’s bringing Nessa.”

You stop peeling the cucumbers to look at him in mild shock. “Huh. I hope the meeting went alright… You don’t think it broke bad, do you?”

Hop peeks around the corner into the kitchen, drawn in by the direction the conversation has turned to. “I hope not,” he says, “otherwise she’s gonna be moping around the lab for the next week. She was really excited about her new research on the historical datings of recently discovered Pokémon getting published in this one.”

“You guys were in Stow-on-side for a month or two for this one, yeah?”

“Yup. We were working with archaeologists in the area, looking for more ruins or any evidence of when Galarian Yamask and Runerigus first were recorded as appearing. Allister was a big help with the field research, being able to talk to ghosts and all.”

“Aw, how’s he doing?” you ask, before Leon interjects with an, “Are we just going to keep glossing over the fact that I said Nessa’s coming with her?”

You turn and stick your tongue out at him while Hop laughs. “It would be surprising, if it weren’t for the fact that _A_ , they’re best friends, and _B_ ,”

“Sonia’s finally starting to make moves!” Hop finishes for you.

“Exactly!” Leon says as he points a spatula towards the two of you, “This is a golden opportunity to finally get them together.”

You groan before starting up your peeling again, smiling all the while. “If they haven’t confessed to each other yet, after the actual, literal apocalypse almost happened, I’m not sure what it’s going to take to make that Mudsdale leave the barn.”

“Hell freezing over,” Hop yells as he walks back to the living room.

Leon gets an annoyed look on his face (not used to his baby brother, grown and swearing now) and you know he wants to yell “Language!” back at him the way their parents would, but you give the former Champion a smug look that says, _“You know he’s right.”_ Part of you wants to say that Hop can swear all he wants in your house, too, since his apprenticeship with Sonia doesn’t leave a lot of room for creative cursing (and their mother would _flip_ if she heard either of her boys swearing at their house,) but you decide to have mercy on Leon, at least for today.

“Since when are you a decent wingman, anyway?” you ask (because you’re not _that_ merciful,) and Leon gasps, affronted.

You hear Hop laughing at his poor brother’s expense in the living room, as Leon puts a dramatic hand to his chest while saying, “I am a perfectly good wingman! I’ve been trying to get Sonia to fess up her feelings for years!”

Slicing the crust from the bread for the sandwiches, you respond, smiling, with a sly, “Case in point.”

Leon throws his hands up in mock offense, and Hop laughs ever louder. You note for the umpteenth time since becoming a part of this tiny bit of the world that your cheeks hurt from the silliness of it all.

* * *

As it turns out, the meeting went just fine. Sonia lets out a loud, “Bahh,” as she plops onto the couch next to where Hop is sitting on the floor. Her eyes are scrunched closed, and she looks a lot more exasperated than a woman who successfully brokered a publication deal ought to in her situation. Nessa, stunning even in her casual Sunday best, gives her a loving look that of course Sonia misses. She sits on the far side of the couch on the opposite of Hop and lounges with her cheek propped on her knuckles, elbow bent gracefully on the arm of the chair. Leon brings out the plates of sandwiches and tea biscuits (egg salad with fresh lettuce on one, made to accommodate for the increasing number of people that had headed your way, and cucumber accompanied by stacks of lavender shortbread on the other) while you follow with the tea.

Bending over to set the tray down and pour everyone a cup, you prod the young professor with a teasing, “That bad, huh?” Leon’s grabbed a solid handful of sandwiches and taken up residency on your loveseat, and you finish handing everyone their tea before settling onto the only remaining chair, an antique single-seater and your favorite of them all.

Sonia drops a hand over her face to massage her temples and says, “I was worried over nothing! They had already decided to publish the results of my research, and I did all this prep work to sell it for no reason. The whole meeting took maybe ten minutes, and it was just me and the agent chinwagging about details.”

Hop and Leon chuckle through mouthfuls of sandwich, and the former pats her knee. She moves her hand to mimic Nessa’s position and looks down at Hop, adding, “Which reminds me, they’ll be getting in contact with you soon about that. Be on the lookout with calls or your email.”

“Aw, what?”

“No whinging!” she chides, “You’re my assistant after all. And you’re gonna have to learn how to deal with this if you ever want your own research results to be published someday.”

Hop pouts, and mumbles, “You’re just making me do it because you don’t want to deal with it.”

Sonia grins mischievously (childishly) and chirps out, “Yup!” and you have to put a hand over your mouth while you laugh to spare everyone from a spray of tea.

“Anyway,” Leon cuts in, “how’d you end up tagging along, Nessa?”

Nessa coolly looks away from Sonia to glance at the two of you, and in that moment you can see how her poise, gleaned from years of modeling work, bleeds into her regular body language. If you had your Rotom phone, you’d have it snap a picture and make it her new contact photo. She left her shoes in the entryway like most of your decent guests do (black open-toed platform sandals today, a favorite of hers that you’ve noticed,) so she’s splayed out on the couch like a Purrloin. _Ah,_ you think, as you realize she’s keeping it cool on purpose.

“Messaged Sonia earlier this morning to see if she wanted to go out today, when she told me about the publisher meeting. Then I get a text not a half-hour later saying it was gonna be a quickie after all and to meet her at Wedgehurst Station.”

Nessa’s casually smiling with her eyes more so than her mouth, and has taken to curling her index finger around one of her loose-hanging twists. The big, thin hoop in the ear on that side of her keeps getting knocked about by the twirling lock of hair, and a cursory glance Sonia’s way reveals that she’s utterly transfixed by the motion. Nessa hasn’t even realized that that’s the case.

Honestly.

“Well,” you say, punctuating the words with a needlessly showy sip of tea, “I’m glad that it all worked out in the end. I think this might be one of the first times all of us have hung out together as a group.”

Leon grins and lifts his cup up, the contents getting dangerously close to sloshing over the rim as he toasts with a, “Here, here!”

Nessa leans back on her bent arm, closing her eyes to smile with her mouth instead. She raises her cup, as do Sonia and Hop (and distantly you think about giving these knuckleheads mugs next time instead of your good china.)

“Then to new beginnings,” she says.

* * *

For the most part, the rest of the day had been uneventful. You went through about 3 bags of your loose leaf tea, and even more snacks, but you’d trade both of those things in a heartbeat if it meant days like this. Nessa and Sonia had spent all afternoon sending lingering looks and smiles each other’s way, flushes of pink blooming on their cheeks, and you and the boys had been finding excuses to crowd them together. At some point though, Leon had grown tired of talking about the subject of Hop’s current work, what he and Sonia’d be researching next, watching whatever dumb videos you could find on social media, and gabbing about your lives, so he’d dragged you, Hop and Nessa out into your back lawn for a doubles battle. The sun was starting to dip into the lower recesses of the sky, and Sonia’s hair caught alight as she came out from the back door to pull a metal garden chair into optimal spectating position.

You had teamed up with Nessa, and Leon had called Hop over to his side from the far edge of the yard. Hop doesn’t idolize Leon the way he used to, but the glow of happiness and pride at getting to battle with his brother still shines bright on his face. Beside you, Nessa pulls her arms up and over her head, stretching her shoulders and rolling her neck. She gives you a confident smirk before enlarging her first Poké Ball and sending out Drednaw. Calling over one of your own team members from where they’ve all settled to watch, you crack your knuckles and begin considering strategies. Leon’s Charizard roars in anticipation, and Hop’s Dubwool bleats excitedly, stamping its front hooves.

Leon, always one for the showmanship of battle, calls out, “Alright, Professor! Would you do us the honors?” without ever looking away from the makeshift battlefield in front of him.

Sonia rolls her eyes from her chair, sighing, “Fine, fine…” Without actually getting up, she raises her arm and shouts, “Battlers ready? Then begin!”

Charizard, the fastest of the bunch, immediately launches towards Drednaw. Unluckily for it, your Pokémon is the second fastest one on the field, and you call out for it to block Charizard’s attack. It gets a mad glint in its eyes as your Pokémon stops the Fire-Flying-type dead in its tracks, and Nessa spares you a quick, “Thanks.” Hop’s Dubwool isn’t far behind Charizard, however, and it hits your Pokémon with a solid Headbutt that sends it flying away from the cluster. It rolls a bit, thankfully missing any spectators and your garden plots, and gives you an “I’m good,” after it gets its bearings to let you know it’s still ready to rumble.

“Big mistake!” Nessa yells, and she calls out for Drednaw to hit Charizard with Liquidation- and since Dubwool so graciously knocked your partner out of the way, the Bite Pokémon’s got a point blank shot. The water-infused tackle sends Charizard reeling back, and for a second the flame on its tail flickers. Sonia whoops from her chair, and you hear the Pokémon spectators scattered around the yard chittering in excitement. Nessa smiles and tucks a twisted lock behind her ear, sparing a glance Sonia’s way before refocusing in on the battle. Leon’s calling out to Charizard, asking if it’s okay while Dubwool has retreated to lend a supportive shoulder for the Flame Pokémon to steady itself on. Though it undoubtedly took a fair bit of damage, its expression tells you this bout has only just begun.

Leon and Hop share a look and nod, which admittedly puts you and Nessa on edge. You have your partner group back closer to Drednaw, but the defensive position you’ve shuttled yourselves in to is disadvantageous at best. Charizard roars and stretches out its wings, and Leon calls for it to use Air Slash on your partner. It dodges, but away from Drednaw who gets caught in the blades of air. In retaliation, your Pokémon runs ahead to get up close and personal with Leon’s ace, hitting it with a physical move that takes the attention off of Drednaw- but only Charizard’s. Dubwool has skittered towards the much slower Pokémon and Hop calls for it to use Double Kick, and Drednaw receives two hooves to its shell for all its trouble. In return, however, Nessa shouts, “Before it gets away, Jaw Lock!” and Drednaw’s neck snaps out to bite into Dubwool’s fluff, effectively trapping it in place.

“Well…” Hop trails off.

“Shit,” you finish for him. Splitting up like this has certainly put both teams at a disadvantage. Charizard is locked in a one-on-one with your partner, with the Fire-Flying-type a bit more worse for wear, and neither Dubwool nor Drednaw are going anywhere if the latter wants to be victorious. Across the lawn, you see Leon work out almost instantly that the only way this stalemate will be resolved is if either his or your Pokémon go to help out their teammate- but you harden your expression and level a stare at him.

_That’s not going to happen._

He smirks, the tenseness of the situation lighting the fire in him. If there’s anything Leon loves, it’s ripping victory out from the jaws of defeat when the cards are stacked against him. What was supposed to be a fun sparring bout has become a full-on battle between two fully realized Champions, a Gym Leader, and a finalist level Challenger, with no party willing to back down. From the corner of your eye, you can see that Sonia’s shifted from the relaxed curl she was in to sitting on the edge of her seat. Though you refuse to let up, spurred by the competitiveness of your opponents and teammate, a small part of you in the back of your brain laments, ‘ _Ahh, we’re gonna fuck up the yard so bad…’_

Straightening out, you say to Nessa without taking your eyes off of your opponents, “Well, Nessa, we’ve already divided, so how ‘bout we get to the part where we conquer?”

“That’s our line!” Hop shouts back, smiling excitedly.

You lean over to your teammate, covering your mouth with the back of your hand as she leans down so you can relay your plan to her. Her expression turns to surprise as you whisper, and when you pull away she dons a devilish smile, with Hop and Leon’s whines about “secret plans” and “cheating” only encouraging her further. Nessa drapes an arm on your shoulder, leaning down thuggishly and quips, “I don’t want to hear that from brothers who know how to coordinate with just a look.” You’re sure you look like quite the pair, with perhaps Nessa in all her stylishness cutting a more intimidating figure, but the display has nonetheless rattled your opponents, to your delight.

“Alright then!” you shout as you break away to battle positions. “Toss Charizard up and towards Drednaw!” you command, and within a second your partner has slipped behind the Flame Pokémon, lifting it up from underneath its arms and hurtling it towards Dubwool and Drednaw’s huddled forms. You’re lucky that speed is on your side, otherwise the shock would have worn off and Charizard would have gotten its bearings much quicker than this plan of yours accounts for. Your partner jumps high into the air after it, and Nessa commands Drednaw to release Dubwool and push it out of the way. Before Charizard can properly react, Nessa shouts, “Liquidation!” and Drednaw coats itself in a torrent of water before launching towards the prone pseudo-dragon.

You hear Sonia gasp as it makes contact, like a watery bullet smashing into a concrete wall, which sends Charizard flying back and roughly into the ground. Trying your best not to get caught up in the moment, you yell for your partner, still airborne yet closing in fast, to land a solid STAB move on Dubwool before it or Hop can react. The momentum of falling combined with the force of the move strengthens it, and it’s like watching a boulder land on a mass of cotton. A wave of clover and dirt clods kicked up and out by the force rain down and you move to shield your eyes, obscuring your vision. When the feeling of being pelted by sod subsides, you lower your forearms to be greeted by the newfound wreckage of your yard (a messy skidmark from Charizard, an honest-to-goodness crater with a heap of wool poking from the center courtesy of Dubwool,) your teammate, opponents and referee completely dumbstruck, and lastly, Drednaw and your partner triumphantly dancing around one another.

Sonia is the first to come around and she shrieks in delight, shocking you out of your stupor. She launches herself from the garden chair and practically jumps onto Nessa, throwing her arms around the Gym Leader. Nessa snaps out of the trance she was in and hugs Sonia back, lifting her up and twirling her around.

“Holy _shit_ ,” you breathe out, running a hand through your hair.

Leon and Hop are still stuck in place, the looks of shock settled deep into their features. But surprisingly, Leon’s the first for whom the spell breaks and he-

He cracks up.

It’s a giggle at first, which becomes full-on, deep belly laughing. Between gasps for air, he manages to get out an, “Oh my _gosh. That was mad!_ I can’t believe that was a backyard bout! And the way you two coordinated! I can’t wait to tell Raihan about this.” He wipes the beginnings of some tears from his eyes with his thumb, and jogs over to where Charizard lays in the dirt, already pulling out its Poké Ball.

“Hey, ref!” Hop says from Dubwool’s side, “You should do your job!”

“Oh! Um, r-right!” Sonia detaches herself from Nessa and clears her throat, attempting to regain the air of a proper battle referee. The last bits of sunlight still peeking over the horizon illuminate her face, and you can see that she’s blushing. “Charizard and Dubwool are unable to battle!” she announces, “Their opponents are the victors!”

Hop chuckles at her goofiness, before turning back to Dubwool and lovingly petting its head. You hear him say, “You did great, buddy,” before returning the exhausted Pokémon to its ball. Leon’s in much the same position, propping Charizard up on his shoulder and grinning at it.

“You were positively brilliant. Get some rest, alright?”

Charizard gently presses its head against the button of its Poké Ball being held up by Leon, and returns to the capsule in a flash of light. Leon closes his eyes and rests his forehead against the ball, teary, but smiling all the while. Hop walks over to him from your new crater and offers his brother a hand up, which Leon gratefully accepts.

“You were brilliant, too,” Leon says. “Thanks for all the support you and Dubwool gave Charizard and me.”

Hop smiles, shrinking into his shoulders almost bashfully. The sunlight has faded completely, and night has begun creeping deep blue across the sky. The wind picks up, and you feel small clods of dirt blow off of the top of your head while fluffy clouds begin to blow Postwick’s way. You walk towards the boys and hold out your hands. “Let’s get your Pokémon healed up, yeah? I’ve got medicines for days, after all.” Leon and Hop grin appreciatively, plopping their tired partners’ Poké Balls into your open palms, when you hear your doorbell ring from the front of your house.

Sonia pulls away from Nessa again (she’s holding her hands, you note,) and says, “Oh, yeah! I completely forgot, I ordered us some takeaway when the battle first started. Figured we’d all be ready for dinner by the time you finished.”

The chorus of her name, “we love yous” and “you’re the bests” is enough to make the young professor grin like the Meowth that caught the Rookidee all the way through the house and to the front door, where a poor delivery boy had been nervously waiting for whatever was going to greet him for about three minutes. She keeps grinning, as she spoons lo mein noodles, bean sprouts and boiled eggs into a smaller bowl from the Huo Guo Hotpot takeaway carton, and keeps grinning as she lays her head on Nessa’s shoulder on the loveseat where Leon had been sitting for most of the afternoon only a few scant hours ago. At about 9 o’clock, after some more tea (from mugs this time,) some TLC for your battle worn Pokémon, and a whole lot of vegetating, Nessa sits up a bit and looks out your front window.

“Time to go?” Sonia asks, quietly since Hop had fallen asleep on the couch not too long ago.

“Yeah, it’s getting late.”

“I’ll walk you back to the station.”

You and Leon are in the kitchen washing dishes when the two girls walk in, both holding their bags and wearing their shoes.

“Are you leaving already?” you ask in a whisper.

Nessa responds with, “Yeah, bit of a trip back to Hulbury. Sonia’s walking me back to the station. We’ll just slip out so her assistant can get some much needed rest.”

You smile gently at them, and thank them for coming. How long had it been since you’d just hung out like this, with friends? Nessa offers you a hand and says, “Thanks for the great battle. We’ve got to get together like this again.”

You take her outstretched hand and give it a firm shake. “For sure.”

Leon smiles and waves wordlessly at the pair, and they disappear around the corner and into the entryway. They creep out the front door, quietly, and for the most part you don’t pay them any mind until you notice from the front-facing kitchen window that they’ve stopped near the gate heading out into the Slumbering Weald. You watch for a few minutes, transfixed, while dishes that Leon’s finished washing pile up on your dishrag and you absently rub a towel over the same (already dry) bowl. You feel silly, for a moment, until you notice that the two are holding hands again. You put down the bowl and towel and start jabbing your elbow into Leon’s side until he says, “What?” and looks out the window to where you’re pointing.

His eyes widen and he turns off the water to watch with you. “They’re holding hands,” he says.

“Uh huh. Wait for it.”

The waiting pays off after maybe 4 seconds, and you both gasp as you see the silhouettes of their hands intertwine their fingers. Nessa’s arm is kind of stiff, and Sonia’s posture looks like she’s shrinking into the ground. If it weren’t for the porchlight still on, you wouldn’t have been able to make out the faint red flush at the tips of Sonia’s ears. It looks like they squeeze their intertwined hands, and lean into each other, before walking down the road back to Wedgehurst Station. Now, Leon’s jabbing _his_ elbow into your side, and you have to bite your tongue and avoid looking at him so you don’t crack up at the ridiculous expression he’s got that you can see out of the corner of your eye.

“What did I tell you?” he says smugly, “Perfectly good wingman.”

You return his jabs and giggle, trying to maintain some modicum of quietness lest you wake up Hop. “Yeah, alright. Perfectly, properly good indeed.”

**Author's Note:**

> howdy y'all guess who wrote another FIC, it's me. I can't really explain this one other than I wanted to explore established characters and relationships as well as personal headcanons for the swsh cast, especially in relation to the joy of just hanging out, drinking tea, doing a whole lot of nothing. it'll probably get heavy in some places irt figuring out what to do with yourself because your lot and place in life are never solid nor concrete. this is gonna be a multi-chapter fic (no concrete update schedule, I'm sorry lmao) and not all chapters are going to follow the formula established in the first one. spoilers though bede's gonna say bitch the pot in one of them and hop's going to spew tea so this is halfway serious and halfway me fucking around. also this is ultimately reader insert and you might make out with some swsh characters or at least have implied Tender Moments. anyways, if you liked this, great! I'm glad you enjoyed. thank you kindly and I hope you have a good day.


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